Preschool Classroom Management for New Teachers – 6 Tips!

As new preschool teachers, keeping a classroom full of excited preschoolers running smoothly can be an incredibly challenging task. In addition to delivering your curriculum, following your daily activity schedule and enforcing rules, you have to keep your eye on several children at once!

Classroom Management Tips for Preschool Teachers

The following preschool classroom management tips and early childhood education ideas should help you keep your preschool classroom in order and promote positive behavior:

1. Layout Your Classroom Strategically

To avoid chaos, take note of this preschool classroom management tip for preschool teachers! The way you lay out the different activities and stations in the room matters. Start by separating the quiet activity areas from the noisier ones, to avoid any one part of your class from getting too rowdy. Make adjustments over time to your preschool classroom management strategies as you see what does and doesn’t work.

2. Stick to the Routine

Consistency is essential for preschool classroom management, especially for your students. If a preschooler is aware of their routine, they start to feel a sense of obligation to follow it. Make students feel a sense of ownership over their routine, and eventually you’ll no longer have to remind them of what’s coming next.

3. Plan an Attention-Grabber

If things do get too rowdy, you should have a creative way to grab their attention on hand. Many preschool teachers find that asking children to copy their motions or sounds can get their attention and limit challenging behavior in early education settings. Try a big, silly sound and large movements to draw their attention and keep it.

4. Plan Transition Times

As children transition from one activity or station to the next one, you should have classroom management techniques to guide these moments and avoid distractions. Try announcing how long preschoolers have left at their station, or countdown from ten before they have to move on to the next activity so they are prepared to do so. This will help foster a positive learning environment for preschool children.

5. Combine Active & Passive Activities

Some activities in your classroom will get preschoolers excited, moving and full of energy, while others are more mellow and quiet. Plan your day by alternating and balancing both types of activities. The way you structure your day and switch between active and passive activities can go a long way in keeping the class under control.

6. Make Record Keeping Easy

Staying on top of everything that is going on in your classroom is tough enough without having to keep records of activities, naps, meals, achievements and other notes. But as a preschool teacher, you have to do just that! In order to make preschool classroom management easier, it is wise to invest in a system that simplifies classroom observations, daily reports, attendance and more.

HiMama is an app that makes recording and tracking events and activities much easier for busy educators, allowing you to make note of essential information and stay in communication with parents. To learn more about how child care providers and early childhood education centers can use HiMama to improve classroom management, get in touch with us today!

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